Coloring lip balm can be tricky. Often times, getting the perfect oil and wax blend is difficult to master, and the color in melted balm is different than the color on your lips. To eliminate the guesswork, the spoon trick is an excellent way to quickly identify the color and texture of your dried lip balm without waiting for the whole batch to harden.
To formulate your lipstick and lip balms more quickly, stick a metal spoon in the freezer for 1 – 2 hours so it’s nice and cold. Make your perfect lip balm or lipstick formula and then dip the frozen spoon into the liquid balm. The balm will immediately harden on the spoon, revealing its true color. Check out the examples below:
For the demonstration we used Coral Mica and Lip Balm Base. For the first try, we mixed a small amount of balm with two mini scoops of mica.
This was the resulting color. The melted balm looks like it has nice rich color, but on the spoon it is quite light. We added several more scoops to get the next color.
Phew, much better! It’s a much richer coral color with the addition of more color. To take things one step further, we added 2 mini scoops of Brick Red Oxide.
We were satisfied with the resulting color, but there is no reason you couldn’t continue to experiment. For more tips & tricks for working with lip balm, check put these posts:
There are also a variety of lip-loving projects on the Soap Queen blog. Here are a few:
Clockwise from top left: Chocolate Lip Balm, Winter Lip Balm, Domino Lip Balm and Vanilla Latte Lip Balm.
Do you have any more soapy hacks that make crafting easier?
Good work beautiful people,I just discovered this blog and can’t stop reading(Lolz)I love it,love it love it…..great and helpful tips and I will surely try them out.
One quick question how do I make my lipbalm (in a safe way)have a sweet taste and fruity flavor.thanks
Thank you so much Noma, glad you love the blog! 🙂
To flavor and sweeten your lip balms, you can use our flavor oils. We have lots of great options, like Passionfruit Rose. You can find those flavor oils here: https://www.brambleberry.com/Flavoring-Oils-C177.aspx
Learn how to add them to your balm in this Sunday Night Spotlight: https://www.soapqueen.com/bramble-berry-news/sunday-night-spotlight-flavoring-oils/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Hi I’m having trouble with my colourant separating once the balm is poured and cooling. How do i stop this to have a nuce even colour texture?
Hi Shannon!
If the balm is a bit hot, the colorants can sink to the bottom of the containers. To prevent that, we recommend pouring the balm when it’s a bit cooler. When it’s cooler it’s thicker, so it suspends the color nicely. We found a good temperature to pour is around 130F. So, after the color is added, stir that balm until it’s around 130F and then pour. That will keep everything nicely dispersed. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
hi! i love everything here!! thank you for sharing 😀
Question, have you tried making lip balms using liquid coloring (beetroot boiled until i’m left with just 5tsp liquid). I tried using it but it just doesn’t mix with the rest of my ingredients of beeswax, almond oil, coconut oil, shea butter and essential oils. any suggestion/s? Thank you very much!
Best regards,
Teng
Hi Teng!
You’re welcome, so glad to hear that! 🙂
Liquid colorants can be tricky to mix into lip balm. Because they’re boiled in water, they’ll naturally want to separate from the oils and waxes.
I would recommend infusing the beet root into one of the liquid oils, like the almond oil. That way the color will mix in easily. Read more about infusing oils here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/how-to-infuse-oils-with-a-crock-pot/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Great idea!!!! This is just the trick I need to test the color of my candles!!
Hi Liv!
That’s a great idea, I hadn’t thought about this in terms of candles, but I’m sure it would work really well! 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
OMG this is adorable I will definitely try this!
Hi there!
I hope you do, it’s such an easy way to achieve the right color for your balm or lipstick 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
I love this blog. So many great tips and tricks. I spend my whole lunch hour (and some work time too) on this blog. LOVE IT!!!!
Yay! So happy to hear that Sabrina 🙂 Thanks for reading!